My
easter weekend was extended to get work off today also. I spent
the day doing odds and ends around the house. I finished planting
the front flower bed with bulbs, so hopefully I'll have more than just
dirt in a few weeks to admire in my front yard. Still caulking
away holes to keep the roaches at bay, so sightings are starting to
be less and less.

Policeman
Bites Hand That Refused to Feed Him

CALCUTTA,
India - Two policemen were suspended in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta
after one of them allegedly bit the hand of a truck driver who refused
to pay a bribe, a police official said. The incident occurred
on Sunday after two police officers pulled over the truck driver for
a routine check, Deputy Commissioner of Calcutta Police Harman Prit
Singh said. "It seems the police vehicle
driver was desperate to extract money from the truck driver. The policeman
went berserk when the truck driver didn't cooperate and they got into
scuffle. That's when the truck driver's hand was bitten," he said.
Police officers, who often are poorly paid, commonly ask for bribes
to tear up traffic tickets or drivers offer bribes. The truck driver
complained to senior police officials that he had been bitten.
Police could not say whether the bite was serious. Singh said the other
officer was suspended because he did not do enough to restrain his "huge"
junior colleague. "We're investigating the whole incident."

April 2

Image of the Day

'Bubble Boy'
Cured in British Gene Therapy First

LONDON
- British doctors have successfully used gene therapy for the first
time to cure a Welsh toddler born without an immune system, the Great
Ormond Street Hospital for Children said. The London hospital
said 18-month-old Rhys Evans had been cured of the fatal genetic condition
X-linked Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Disease (X-SCID), commonly
known as "baby in the bubble" syndrome. "This
is the first time gene therapy has cured a child in Britain," the hospital
said in a statement. The disease meant Rhys was born without an
immune system and was highly susceptible to potentiallyfatal infections.
He was forced to live in a totally sterile environment, isolated from
other children, and spent much of his life in hospital. Doctors removed
some of Rhys' bone marrow and genetically modified it to add a correct
copy of the faulty gene which caused X-SCID. The marrow was then re-injected
into his system. Dr. Adrian Thrasher, who led the team which carried
out the procedure, said the success of Rhys' treatment was very exciting.
"Gene therapy is about turning understanding into real cures for real
children," he said. Rhys' mother Marie said the treatment had made a
huge difference for her son. "We see him now playing with other
children and it is just amazing," she told the BBC. The Evans case,
which followed the opening of a gene therapy laboratory at the hospital
last September, is one of the few clinically successful examples of
gene therapy in the world. French researchers claimed the first success
for gene therapy in 2000 when they treated two infant boys with X-SCID.

April 3

Image of the Day

My
boss is officially getting a divorce and so things have been sporadic
around the office recently. The construction noise from across
the street has picked up again and is back to a constant drone.
I'm working like mad trying to figure out my taxes this year, all these
new forms and schedules to figure out. The tax count-down has
started.Personnel approach the cabin of China's third
unmanned spaceship "Shenzhou III" which landed in
the central Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The spaceship returned
to Earth and was pronounced "technically suitable for astronauts," the
government said - the latest step to become the third nation to put
people in space.

April 4

Image of the Day

My
work offices were broken into last night, as I found myself at work
at 9 pm to view the situation. Someone broke our front window
to the office and was inside for about an hour. Although no computer
equipment or checks were missing. CeeCee also turned up missing
when I got home from work. I found her today at the town lake
animal shelter shivering in her pen. It actually took some effort
to convince them that it was my dog. They were giving me crap
how they had to follow procedure to ensure it was my dog. I think
we need some other form of english teaching here in Texas. When
I can no longer order my food in english at a restaurant something is
wrong with the system. I'm not talking just about fast food places
either. I have discovered too many places where the waitress cannot
comprehend enough english to take my order, and the manager has to come
over to take the order. My favorite toy store Home Depot has even
succumbed this fate. Upon trying to purchase my items with the
Home Depot commercial credit card the cashier had to call the authorization
department. She could not read or pronounce the word identification,
and mistook that word as the name of the business account. While
waiting on hold, she proceeded to complain how she didn't understand
why her 3-year old couldn't stay at home alone for her 10 hour shift.
"Just give him some books to read and he's fine," she said.

Garbage
Trucks to Teach English

TAIPEI
- Garbage trucks in the south Taiwan city of Tainan will soon broadcast
English lessons from loudspeakers to educate citizens as they haul away
the rubbish. "Even grandmothers and grandfathers will be able
to speak the most basic conversational English after listening for a
few dozen times," the United Daily News newspaper quoted Tainan mayor
Hsu Tain-tsair as saying. "This is Tainan's first step toward
internationalization," Hsu said. Hsu said his wife came up with
the idea for the educational garbage trucks. The English-teaching garbage
trucks are scheduled to hit the streets on September 1. Currently, Taiwan's
garbage trucks call people out to the curb with their rubbish with a
classical music refrain.

April 5

Image of the Day

This
sounds like an interesting idea, we should post dead or alive wanted
money for our terrorist lists, and enemies of the state. Payable
to anyone willing to risk their lives to kill people deemed unwanted
by Big Brother. I would like to start a collection for the creator of
Barney, Beanie Babies, and purple ketchup. $1 reward payment for
anyone submitting a photo documenting the embarrassment or taunting
of these individuals....

Iraq
Boosts Suicide Bomber Payment

Saddam
Hussein has increased money for the relatives of suicide bombers from
$10,000 to $25,000, drawing sharp criticism from Washington. But Palestinians
say the bombers are driven by a priceless thirst for revenge, religious
zeal and dreams of glory — not greed. Since Iraq upped its payments
last month, 12 suicide bombers have successfully struck inside Israel,
including one man who killed 25 Israelis, many of them elderly, as they
sat down to a meal at a hotel to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Passover.
The families of three suicide bombers said they have recently received
payments of $25,000.The
devout Muslims among the bombers, a majority, believe they will go to
heaven as martyrs and spend eternity in the company of 72 virgins. In
grainy farewell home videos, they often read passages from the Muslim
holy book, the Quran, and praise God. Secular attackers know that after
the deed, their families will win the adulation of friends,neighbors and
strangers. Saddam has said the Palestinians need weapons and money
instead of peace proposals and has provided payments throughout a year
and a half of Israeli-Palestinian battles. "I saw on Iraqi TV President
Saddam saying he will continue supporting the (uprising) even if it
means selling his own clothes," said Safi. Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld said Saddam's payments inspire a "culture of political murder."
"Here is an individual who is the head of a country, Iraq, who has proudly,
publicly made a decision to go out and actively promote and finance
human sacrifice for families that will have their youngsters kill innocent
men, women and children," Rumsfeld said Wednesday.But
Saddam is not the only one giving money. Charities from Saudi Arabia
and Qatar — both U.S. allies — pay money to families ofPalestinians
killed in the fighting, including suicide bombers. The mother of Jamal
Nasser, a 23-year-old architecture student who died trying to ram an
explosives-laden car into a bus carrying Jewish settlers, said she received
a check for $10,000 from Iraq and another for $5,000 from Saudi Arabia.
She said she plans to put the money toward buying an apartment. She
wants to move her family from the small place they've been renting for
more than 20 years. The money she received is about half the cost of
a small apartment in Nablus. Fifty-five Palestinians have blown
themselves up in attacks on Israeli civilians in the past 18 months
of fighting. Under the new Iraqi payscale, decided on March 12 during
an Arab conference in Baghdad, the families of gunmen and others who
die fighting the Israelis will still receive $10,000, while the relatives
of suicide bombers will get $25,000. Safi and two others from
the Arab Liberation Front visit families in the northern West Bank and
make the payments. "We go to every family and give them a check," he
said. "We tell them that this is a gift from President Saddam and Iraq."

Church of the Nativity

April 6

Image of the Day

Looks
like the KU Klux Klan has some new associates in Syria. They are
full of the same racial hatred, only they kill innocent civilians to
justify themselves. It's rained most of today, scuttling my plans
to mow my lawn for the first time this spring. Palestinians wearing hoods and mock bombs at their
waists to represent suicide bombers march through Damascus, Syria. Hamas
founder and leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin appears in a poster at right.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians thronged Damascus' main thoroughfares,
chanting slogans against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and calling
on Arab leaders to support the Palestinian uprising.

April 7

Image of the Day

It's
good to see they are brainwashing the young women along with the young
men. You would hate to see the men all get killed in death by
suicide, and the palestinian woman have to marry Israeli husbands.
The rains continued throughout the day, pushing off my lawn care a little
longer. I spent a few hours running more ethernet cablesThe daughter of a Palestinian gunman who was killedrecently
during an attack on a Jewish settlement in theGaza Strip is arranged during a rally of the militant
groupIslamic Jihad, in Gaza City. Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon pursued his drive to crack the will of Palestinians, led
by Yasser Arafat, after sending tanks into another West Bank town in
response to a wave of suicide bombings.

April 8

Image of the Day

Here's
an interesting egyptian glif I came across. It's supposed to show
what Joseph Smith's sketch of the egyptian alphabet and grammer from
the Book of Abraham scroll. Conference was this last weekend and
I didn't get to absorb much of it, was busy working and cleaning around
my house. I'll have to read up some of the talks online and through
the audio broadcasting. A possum attacked my front door last night.
It seems all the thundering and lightning must have scared it, because
it clawed an 18" hole in my solid wood door. Now I just have to
figure out the best way to fix it.

Mother
Convicted for Teargas Consumer Test

STRASBOURG,
France - A French court convicted a mother of two of premeditated armed
violence after she tried out her new teargas canister on an innocent
shopper to see if it worked, police said. Disguised
in dark glasses and a hat, the unnamed 35-year-old sprayed a woman shopper
who had just returned to her car in a supermarket car park. Unimpressed
by the defendant's plea that she had merely wanted to try out the device,
the court in the northeast town of Saverne gave her a four-month suspended
sentence. Police said that, during questioning, the woman said she was
disappointed with her purchase because the person she sprayed had been
able to thrash about and scare her by shouting.

April 9

Image of the Day

A
relative Sandra LeRoy died yesterday on monday at 4:34 pm in Louisiana.
I received this news over email from her oldest son Jorge. My
family used to visit them often when we returned for the summer in my
youth.

Britain's
Queen Mother funeral was held with politicians and royal dignitaries
from around the world gathered in London to pay their last respect.
The Queen Mother who died March 30, was 101 years old. She will be interred
at St George's Chapel in Windsor next to her late husband, King George.

April 10

Image of the Day

I
hope that my church is organized well enough that this doesn't happen,
although it seems there is some of the same clergy protection idealism.

Boston Church
Hid Abuse by Second Priest

BOSTON
- The Archdiocese of Boston, already under fire for covering up sexual
abuse of children by a Boston-area priest in the 1980s and 1990s, took
steps to shield a second cleric facing similar allegations, according
to internal church documents made public. While the Archdiocese was
under the leadership of the late HumbertoMedeiros
and the current Cardinal, Bernard Law, the Rev. Paul Shanley admitted
to superiors that he raped and sodomized children, according to the
documents, released under a court order as part of a lawsuit against
Shanley. They showed he advocated sex between children and adults
and that he was an early adherent of a group that later became the North
American Man-Boy Love Association. They also revealed that
after more than two decades of covering upShanley's
abuses and giving him new jobs with ministerial duties, thearchdiocese
gave him a glowing recommendation and supported histransfer
to the diocese of San Bernardino, California. "This man was a monster
in the Archdiocese of Boston for many, many years," said Roderick MacLeish,
who is representing Shanley's accusers. They revealed a pattern
of actions by church officials strikingly similar to the way they dealt
with former priest and convicted child molester John Geoghan. In that
case, officials shuttled the priest from parish to parish even though
they knew he was a child molester. The revelations are likely
to generate more accusations that Law and other members of the Boston
Catholic hierarchy protected the church's reputation at the expense
of children's safety. Calls for Law'sresignation,
which he has rejected, are likely to increase. Prelates in Ireland
and Poland, both deeply Catholic countries, have resigned because of
sex abuse scandals. Officials throughout the hierarchy of the
Catholic church have condemned pedophilia by priests. Even Pope John
Paul II weighed in, calling it the worst form of evil.

April 11 - Dedicated to
my rich heritage and Family bloodline

James
Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States, was born in Franklin
County, near Mercersburg Pennsylvania, at a spot called Stony Batter
(Originally Cove Gap). Of Scottish-Irish descent, he was born on Apr.
23, 1791, the son of James Buchanan, a prosperous storekeeper, and his
wife, Elizabeth Speer. Cove
Gap, Buchanan's birthplace, is a far cry from the modern world that
many Americans take for granted. Though quiet and solitude now reign,
the spirit of this place would have been much different on April 23,
1791, the day of James Buchanan's birth. Then, it was the western edge
of civilization; a place alive with the sights and sounds of a center
of commerce. Though the surrounding Allegheny Mountains provided a formidable
barrier to those seeking a way west, Cove Gap's cut through two of three
parallel mountains made a westward journey a little easier. During those
days, anyone seeking a route west passed through this gap. In
1789, James Buchanan's father bought this place, first called Tom's
Trading Place, in its heyday, complete with cabins, barns, stables,
storehouses, store and orchard. He renamed it Stony Batter after the
Buchanan home in northern Ireland and continued to operate the business
until moving it to nearby Mercersburg when young James reached the age
of six. Though young when he left Stony Batter, Buchanan's first home
left a lasting impression. Years later in 1865, the owner of the site
invited the former President to visit his birthplace. Buchanan wrote
in reply, "It is a rugged but romantic spot, and the mountain and mountain
stream under the scenery cape captivating. I have warm attachments for
it...". Young
James received an academy education and attended Dickinson College,
Carlisle, Pa., graduating in 1809. He then studied law inLancaster,
where he began practice in 1813. Although a FEDERALIST in political
sympathies, he supported the prosecution of the War of1812
and participated as a volunteer in the defense of Baltimore. After serving
in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1814-16), Buchanan devoted
attention to his law practice, which soon prospered. In 1819 he became
engaged to Ann Coleman, daughter of a wealthy Lancaster iron manufacturer,
but as a result of a misunderstanding the engagement was ended. Her
sudden death shortly thereafter left Buchanan desolate. He never married.
In 1820, Buchanan was elected to the U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
With the collapse of the Federalist party, he supported Andrew JACKSON
for the presidency. In the late 1820s he emerged as the leader of the
Amalgamation party, the dominant faction of Pennsylvania Jacksonians.
Buchanan retired from CONGRESS in 1831 but later that year accepted
Jackson's offer of the ministry to Russia. He remained at St. Petersburg
from 1832 to 1834, where he concluded a commercial treaty. Shortly after
his return he was elected to the U.S. SENATE, where he served from 1834
to 1845. Mentioned
as a possible presidential candidate in 1844, Buchanan became (1845)
secretary of state in the cabinet of President James K.POLK.
Although Polk personally directed the formulation of foreign policy,
Buchanan worked diligently in matters relating to the consummation of
the annexation (1845) of Texas, the settlement of the Oregon Question,
and the Mexican War. He retired from office at the end of the Polk administration
in 1849. Buchanan was a serious contender for the DEMOCRATIC nomination
in 1852 but lost to Franklin PIERCE, who named him minister to Great
Britain. His mission in London (1853-56) accomplished little but benefited
him politically, for he remained aloof from the controversy over the
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854). At
the Democratic convention in 1856, Buchanan won the presidential nomination
on the 17th ballot. In the fall he won an ELECTORALvictory,
although he failed to get a popular majority over John C. Fremont, the
Republican, and Millard Fillmore, the KNOW-NOTHINGcandidate.
Two days after Buchanan's inauguration, the Supreme Court declared in
the Dred Scott case that Congress had no power over slavery in the territories.
He welcomed this ruling as the final word on that issue, but the REPUBLICANS
and many Northern Democrats refused to accept the Court's opinion. Like
Pierce, Buchanan met difficulties in organizing Kansas Territory. He
urged Congress to accept the territory's proslavery LeCompton Constitution,
even though it had been drawn up by an unrepresentative convention that
had refused to submit it to the people. Stephen A. Douglas, Democratic
senator of Illinois, broke with Buchanan, arguing that the president's
stand made a mockery of the doctrine of Popular Sovereignty. Ultimately
the constitution was referred to the Kansas electorate, which overwhelminglyrejected
it. With
his long experience in diplomacy, Buchanan expected his administration
to conduct a vigorous foreign policy. He sought to extendAmerican
influence in the Caribbean, but congressional opposition forced him
to give up efforts to purchase Cuba from Spain. Inevitably,domestic
matters intruded upon his attention. The panic of 1857 added to the
unpopularity of his administration and contributed to heavyDemocratic
losses in the congressional elections of 1858.
The sectional controversy grew steadily more serious during the last
two years of Buchanan's presidency. The raid by John Brown atHarpers
Ferry and Brown's execution by Virginia authorities in 1859 intensified
public feeling in both the South and the North. In thepresidential
campaign of 1860 the Democratic party split, and Buchanan endorsed Vice
President John C. BRECKINRIDGE of Kentucky,whom
he considered the regular nominee, instead of Douglas, the candidate
of the Northern Democrats. The election of Abraham LINCOLN, the Republican
candidate, prompted the secession of seven Southern states and the creation
of the Confederate States of America during Buchanan's last months in
office. The president was criticized by secessionists because he denied
the legality of their action and by Northern advocates of a more vigorous
policy because he believed that the executive lacked the power to coerce
a state. He based his hopes for the survival of the Union on last minute
compromise efforts, which failed. As the more pro-Southern cabinet members
resigned during the crisis, he took a stronger pro-Union stand, refusing
to turn over Fort Pickens in Florida and Fort Summer in South Carolina
to the authorities in those secessionist states.
During the Civil War Buchanan generally supported Lincoln's war policies
while preparing a defense of his own administration, which hepublished
in 1866. He died at his estate, Wheatland, near Lancaster, on June 1,
1868. Buchanan's reputation is judged mainly by his conduct during the
last months of his presidency, and he is therefore generally regarded
as an ineffective executive. In his defense it can be said that he was
a lame duck president caught in a vicious crossfire between secessionists
and Republicans. But at the same time his adherence to a conservative
legalism led him to interpret narrowly his powers to deal with an unprecedented
constitutional crisis. During
Buchanan's term as Secretary of State (1845-1849), he annexed one-third
of the territory of the continental United States under his signature.
He negotiated the Oregon Territory with Great Britain in 1845. This
included the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and parts of Montana.
He signed the annexation of the Republic of Texas, an area that included
the state of Texas, one-half of New Mexico, and parts of Colorado, Oklahoma
and Kansas. In 1848, Buchanan concluded the Treaty of Guadeloupe-Hidalgo
which annexed the remainder of the southwest from Mexico around Texas
and north to the old Louisiana Purchase Line. Buchanan originated the
"Good Neighbor Policy" toward Central American nations. This policy
fostered friendship, cooperation and non-interference in the internal
affairs of another country - whether they were constitutional or dictatorial.
Buchanan also supported the Monroe Doctrine, a policy opposing any European
control in the Americas.
Buchanan won Queen Victoria's favor while serving as the foreign minister
to Great Britain. This relationship grew stronger when the anti-British
press attacked the motherland. Because of Buchanan's endearing relationship
with Queen Victoria, the queen sent her son, the Prince of Wales, to
visit the President. This marked the first time British royalty had
visited the United States. The Buchanan/Queen Victoria friendship proved
beneficial during the Civil War. Queen Victoria opposed the strong movement
in Parliament to recognize e Confederacy in a move designed to bring
needed cotton to Britain. Had the Confederacy been recognized by Britain,
the outcome of the war may have changed. Buchanan understood the
Constitution nearly as well as its author James Madison. Buchanan held
Madison's views of how the Constitution was supposed to work, not as
a logical document or as a consolidating wisdom to succeed. Buchanan
was also instrumental in having Madison's notes on the 1787 Constitutional
Convention turned over to the federal government and eventually printed. On the eve
of the Civil War, President James Buchanan presented his 4th Annual
Message to Congress in which he explained his basic policy. The northern
press condemned his policy as weak, vacillating, pro southern and even
treasonable. On March 4,1861, President Abraham Lincoln gave his inaugural
address. Some newspapers said his policy was forceful, brave, patriotic,
manly, full of decision and firm, even though Lincoln's inaugural address
repeats in some places the same terminology used in Buchanan's earlier
policy statements. During Buchanan's term
as President: his policy kept peace; the armed forces were on alert;
he suggested a Constitutional Convention on slavery; and he pledged
the federal government would enforce the law where practical, but not
commit armed aggression against the South. Lincoln followed the same
policy until the firing on Fort Sumter which required a military response
and brought on the Civil War. On May 30, 1868, Buchanan's last public
statement was taken from his bed the day before he died, "My dear friend,
I have no fear for the future. Posterity will do me justice. I have
always felt, and still feel that I discharged every public duty imposed
upon me conscientiously. I have no regret for any public act of my life
and history will vindicate my memory from every unjust aspersion:'
Mr. Buchanan entered Dickinson College, Pennsylvania and graduated from
that institution in 1809, at the age of seventeen, with credit. He immediately
began the study of law, with Mr. James Hopkins, of Lancaster, and was
admitted to practice in 1812. He work at this profession for nearly
thirty years. His first entrance upon political life was at the age
of twenty three, when he became a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature.
In 1820, Mr. Buchanan took his seat in the House of Representatives,
and continued a member by successive reelections for ten years. He supported
General Jackson and on that chieftain's election to the Presidency,
which was promoted by his influence in Pennsylvania, he was placed at
the head of the Judiciary committee. In 1831, Mr. Buchanan received
the appointment from President Jackson of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary to St. Petersburg, and succeeded in securing a valuable
commercial treaty, opening to our merchants important privileges in
the Russian waters. On his return in 1833 he was elected to the United
States Senate. When Mr. Polk became president in 1845, Mr. Buchanan
was appointed Secretary of State. Mr. Buchanan was appointed Minister
to England in 1853. Mr. Buchanan received the nomination for the Presidency
from the Democratic convention in 1856 and was elected. He tried but
failed to buy Cuba from Spain. He was the only president who never married.
During the close of his term the clouds which had been gathering since
its commencement broke in the storm of war. Buchanan was president right
before Lincoln so he spent much of his time trying to appease the anti-slavery
and the pro-slavery forces within his administration. The election
of Mr. Lincoln was followed by the succession in the Southern States
and there was no weapon in the hands of Mr. Buchanan powerful enough
to arrest the rebellion. James
Buchanan was tall, stately, stiffly formal in the high stock he wore
around his jowls. Presiding over a rapidly dividing Nation, Buchanan
grasped inadequately the political realities of the time. Relying on
constitutional doctrines to close the widening rift over slavery, he
failed to understand that the North would not accept constitutional
arguments which favored the South. Nor could he realize how sectionalism
had realigned political parties: the Democrats split; the Whigs were
destroyed, giving rise to the Republicans. Born into a well-to-do Pennsylvania
family in 1791, Buchanan, a graduate of Dickinson College, was gifted
as a debater and learned in the law. He was elected five times to the
House of Representatives; then, after an interlude as Minister to Russia,
served for a decade in the Senate. He became Polk's Secretary of State
and Pierce's Minister to Great Britain. Service abroad helped to bring
him the Democratic nomination in 1856 because it had exempted him from
involvement in bitter domestic controversies. As President-elect, Buchanan
thought the crisis would disappear if he maintained a sectional balance
in his appointments and could persuade the people to accept constitutional
law as the Supreme Court interpreted it. The Court was considering the
legality of restricting slavery in the territories, and two justices
hinted to Buchanan what the decision would be. Thus, in his Inaugural
the President referred to the territorial question as "happily, a matter
of but little practical importance" since the Supreme Court was about
to settle it "speedily and finally." Two days later Chief Justice Roger
B. Taney delivered the Dred Scott decision, asserting that Congress
had no constitutional power to deprive persons of their property rights
in slaves in the territories. Southerners were delighted, but the decision
created a furor in the North. Buchanan decided to end the troubles in
Kansas by urging the admission of the territory as a slave state. Although
he directed his Presidential authority to this goal, he further angered
the Republicans and alienated members of his own party. Kansas remained
a territory. When Republicans won a plurality in the House in 1858,
every significant bill they passed fell before southern votes in the
Senate or a Presidential veto. The Federal Government reached a stalemate.
Sectional strife rose to such a pitch in 1860 that the Democratic Party
split into northern and southern wings, each nominating its own candidate
for the Presidency. Consequently, when the Republicans nominated Abraham
Lincoln, it was a foregone conclusion that he would be elected even
though his name appeared on no southern ballot. Rather than accept a
Republican administration, the southern "fire-eaters" advocated secession.
President Buchanan, dismayed and hesitant, denied the legal right of
states to secede but held that the Federal Government legally could
not prevent them. He hoped for compromise, but secessionist leaders
did not want compromise. Then Buchanan took a more militant tack. As
several Cabinet members resigned, he appointed northerners, and sent
the Star of the West to carry reinforcements to Fort Sumter. On January
9, 1861, the vessel was far away. Buchanan reverted to a policy of inactivity
that continued until he left office. In March 1861 he retired to his
Pennsylvania home Wheatland, where he died seven years later, leaving
his successor to resolve the frightful issue facing the Nation.Personal:• First Lady: Harriet
Lane, Niece• Wife's Maiden Name:
None None• Number of Children:
None• Education Level:
College• School Attended:
Dickinson College• Religion: Presbyterian• Profession: Military,
Lawyer• Military Service:
No official rankPublic Service:• Dates of Presidency:
3/4/1857 - 3/3/1861• Presidency Number:
15• Number of Terms:
1• Why Presidency Ended: Not
nominated• Party: Democratic• His Vice President(s): John
C. Breckinridge• Cabinet Service:
Secretary of State (James K. Polk, 1845-1849)• Senator: Pennsylvania
(1834-1845)• House of Representatives:
Pennsylvania (1821-1831)• State Legislative Service:
PA (1814-1815)• Other Offices: Minister
to Russia; Minister to Great BritainDuring his term the Dred Scott decision was passed which
decreed that a slave was not a person but forever property. His
niece, Harriet Lane, acted as hostess for the White House, was known
for her charm, and was referred to as "the belle" of Washington. Because
of the Civil War, Buchanan actually believed he would be the last president
of the United States. "My dear, sir, if you are as happy on entering
the White House as I on leaving, you are a very happy man indeed." --
James Buchanan to Abraham Lincoln.

April 12

Image of the Day

Gunning for Gophers Draws
Activists' Fire

WINNIPEG,
Manitoba - The Canadian province of Saskatchewan is offering cash prizes
to the top guns in its 2002 gopher hunting derby, but the plan to rid
the Prairie farming region of a plague of the cute, crop-eating rodents
is drawing flak from animal rights activists. "It's a killing derby
basically and there's other ways of dealing with wildlife," said Sinikka
Crosland, a Canadian nurse who has spearheaded an international letter
writing blitz. "We're going to have people out there with their firearms
blasting away at the gophers," she said. The 2002 Ken Turcott Memorial
Gopher Derby began this week in the western province. Named after a
local, avid, gopher exterminator, the derby is sponsored by the Saskatoon
Wildlife Federation, which warns that gopher numbers have reached epidemic
levels. "We're just infested with gophers in areas. We're hoping to
help out the landowners," said Len Jabush, business manager for the
wildlife federation, who admits he has a major public relations headache
ahead of him. "We're emphasizing that it be done safely, done humanely
and not cause any problems for anyone," he added, noting that shooting
gophers is better for the environment than the common practice of poisoning
them with strychnine. For decades, Prairie farmers
have engaged in a tireless battle to reduce the population of gophers,
trying everything from traps to poisons -- even giant vacuums. With
their numbers estimated in the millions, the gophers usually win. And
Saskatchewan's gopher population is expected to peak this year because
of a lack of snow. Usually run-off from the spring melt flows into gopher
dens and drowns many of the animals. Entrants in the gopher
hunt pay C$20 ($12.60) to sign up for the derby. The 10 participants
who turn in the most gopher tails by the June 23 deadline will share
the kitty. Some of the money will also go to fund wildlife preserves.

April 13

Image of the Day

I
spent three hours today clearing out brush and vines from Bolder Creek
which runs behind my house with the help of Chris and Erin. The
front trees and shrubs are now trimmed. If I only could get a
working lawn mower to cut down the brush and weeds growing in the front
and back yards things would look perfect.

Court:
Weapons Ban Unconstitutional

CINCINNATI
- An appeals court in Ohio upheld a lower court's ruling that the state's
ban on carrying concealed weapons violates the state constitution. The
1st Ohio District Court of Appeals ruled that the decades-old ban, which
bars both carrying a concealed weapon and having a loaded weapon in
a vehicle, infringes on the right to self defense.
"I feel like a burden's been lifted off my shoulders," said Pat Feely,
31, a food delivery truck driver and one of five people who challenged
the law. Feely was arrested in 1999 because he kept a gun in his waistband
while delivering pizzas. The framers of the state constitution "put
the citizens' rights up front," said Mark Painter, presiding judge of
the appeals court. "We believe they meant what they said."
Lawyers for Cincinnati,
Hamilton County and the state had argued that government has the right
to regulate the manner in which weapons are carried. Ohio's attorney
general asked the state Supreme Court for an immediate delay of the
ruling to hear an appeal, said spokesman Joe Case. The appeals
court upheld Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman's Jan.
10 ruling that the state ban was unenforceable in the county. The court
also said the ban is confusing to citizens and police, making it likely
that various agencies would enforce the law differently.
Ohio law allows only law
enforcement officials and state and federal government officers to carry
concealed weapons. The plaintiffs, who include a private investigator,
say their jobs take them into areas where they need self defense. Their
attorneys also argued that conflicting enforcement by different police
agencies makes it difficult for people to know how to exercise their
constitutional right to self defense.
They said Cincinnati police have arrested people for carrying concealed
weapons, and city officers have testified they probably would arrest
someone who tried to openly carry a weapon. Meanwhile, an Ohio State
Highway Patrol officer testified that the patrol has caught motorists
carrying loaded guns and let them go. Forty-three states allow concealed
weapons in some form.

April 14

Image of the Day

I
filed an extension for my taxes today. After 4 attempts to turn
them in electronically failed. I have severely strained my left
neck muscle and have difficulty moving it, in addition to having a enflamed
lymph node and sore throat. The high humidity from the last few
days has not helped things either. Luckily, the vine removal adventure
over last weekend loosened up my back a lot.

FDA Calls
Nicotine Lollipops Illegal

WASHINGTON
- The Food and Drug Administration cracked down on Internet sellers
of nicotine laced lollipops and lip balm, declaring them illegal and
ordering that three pharmacies stop sales immediately.The
lollipops in particular pose a risk to children because they look likeregular
candy, the FDA warned. "The quantity of nicotine could be potentially
dangerous to a small child," said FDA attorney David Horowitz.
He urged smokers to switch to FDA approved smoking cessation products.
The agency can't say for sure if the lollipops pose an immediate health
risk to adult smokers, because they are made with a different form of
nicotine than is found in nicotine gum, patches or other approved products.
That form of nicotine has not been tested for safety. That alone makes
the lollipops and lip balm illegal to sell, but the Internet pharmacies
also had been wrongly dispensing them without a doctor's prescription,
the FDA said. The FDA gave the three pharmacies 15 days to tell the
government they're stopping sales or risk further legal action.
The pharmacies are Ashland Drugs in Ashland, Miss., Bird's Hill Pharmacy
in Needham, Mass., and The Compounding Pharmacy in Aurora, Ill. The FDA is reviewing
other unconventional nicotine products, such as a Virginia company's
nicotine lozenge, to see if they also qualify as drugs being sold illegally.
"I didn't know there'd be a problem" with selling the lollipops, said
Larry Melton, owner of Ashland Drugs, who said he created them because
customers had requested alternatives to gum or patches. He said he quit
selling them Wednesday upon receiving the FDA's warning letter, to the
disappointment of customers and some doctors who last week had begun
giving smokers prescriptions for them.

April 15

Image of the Day

I
had another night of sleeplessness, maybe 3 hours of sleep. When
you become familiar with the night train schedule something needs to
change. Here's the Israeli conflict from the other viewpoint of
the arab perspective or non American media....This morning the newspaper reported
on all the money that is being raised to help the Palestinians fight
against Israel. Over the weekend there were telethons on all the local
TV stations where people could call in and pledge money to buy arms
to fight. In the emirates alone they raised over $100 million in three
days. The response was so strong that the royal families ordered the
TV stations to continue with the telethons. There were pictures of women
donating their jewelry, and kids breaking their piggy banks (the equivalent
as they don't like pigs) to give a few pennies here and a few pennies
there. We
also read how Sadam Hussein and members of all the royal families in
the Gulf have set up special trust funds to give to families of the
suicide bombers as a reward for this act of craziness. The newspapers
estimate that each family currently gets about $150,000 when a son or
daughter decides to blow themselves up. In addition, there are
interviews of kids about the age of 6 or 7 who are already planning
on becoming martyrs for the cause. The
newspapers also report that over 75% of Saudi's hate Americans, and
are glad when the USA suffers acts of terrorism. They report that the
overwhelming majority of moslems believe that the attacks of September
11 were actually done by Israel in an attempt to poison the world against
their religion. There are TV ads portraying the Palestinians as fighting
for peace, and the Israelis as war mongers. There are songs in Arabic
that sound great, and are played while showing Israeli tanks and soldiers
shooting at Palestinians.

April 16

Image of the Day

At
what point does this set the stage for two apostles to be in the middle
east, to end up on the streets of Israel, the random targets of a suicide
bomber. We are in the 18th month of the Isreali-Palestinian war
that has no end in sight in the next 6 months. I have been sick
the last few days with a earache, sore throat, and stressed neck muscle.
None of which are feeling that good after my lack of sleep each night.

Two Apostles Take Overseas
Assignments

SALT
LAKE CITY — Two apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints will begin overseas assignments for one year starting in August
this year — the first time such senior leaders have lived and presided
in an international area of the Church for nearly half a century. Elder
Dallin H. Oaks will serve as area president in the Philippines, and
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland will serve in the same capacity in Chile. The
appointments were announced today by the First Presidency in a post
general conference training meeting with general authorities of the
Church. Assignments of Church apostles
to reside in international areas have not been a practice in the Church
for some four decades. Ezra Taft Benson, who was ordained an apostle
in 1943, presided over the European Mission in the mid-1960s. David
O. McKay similarly served as a mission president while a member of the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He presided over the British Mission
in the early 1920s.The move is aimed at meeting the challenges that the Church
has faced for years in many developing areas: rapid Church growth,
and the need to train leadership and to help new members assimilate
into the Church and attend the temple. The assignments will enable members
of the Quorum of the Twelve to gain additional experience in meeting
and resolving these challenges.

April 17

Image of the Day

Drug Tunnel
Found Under U.S. Customs Lot

PHOENIX
(Reuters) - Puzzled federal agents tried Tuesday to discover who dug
an 85 foot- (26 meter) long tunnel that started in Mexico, ran directly
underneath a U.S. Customs Service parking lot in SouthernArizona, and
was believed used at least once to smuggle drugs into the United States.
The tunnel, complete with wood bracing and electricity illegally tapped
from a Customs employee parking lot, was found Sunday by a sharp-eyed
government security guard patrolling the area, said Roger Maier, a Customs
Service spokesman. No drugs were located during an inspection of the
tunnel but evidence suggested that the tunnel was used at least once
to smuggle drugs. No arrests have been made. "It is bold to do
something like this," Maier said. "But it is also bold to bring dope
through the port of entry in a car. They are going to look for whatever
avenue they can." Authorities said the security
guard's suspicions were aroused when he noticed a depression in the
parking lot concrete. He discovered that a small hole in the concrete
opened to a larger expanse below theground.
An investigation found that the tunnel apparently stretched from a wash
in Mexico, across the U.S. border, and underneath about 25 feet (7.6
meters) of a Customs lot. It ended underneath a public parking lot just
northwest of the Nogales, Ariz., entry port. Portions of the tunnel
were only inches below the surface, Maier said. It is believed that
smugglers unloaded their drug cache through a one-square-foot piece
of concrete that had been punched out of theparking
lot and replaced with a concrete cap that was placed over the hole to
conceal the opening. This is the ninth drug tunnel found in Nogales
since 1995, including two that spanned the U.S.-Mexico border. In December,
authorities discovered a more elaborate tunnel that opened into a vacant
house in Nogales and had the makings of a rail system to carry drugs
through it. It was linked to a several area drug seizures.

April 18

Image of the Day

I
mailed out my taxes today, hopefully everything is correct. I
am still feeling sick and waiting for the medicine to kick in and get
my body back in gear. I received some of the geneology information
from my grandparents today. Hopefully I can get this information
organized to a internet-friendly format.British explorers Steve Brooks, left, and Graham Stratford,
drive their customized snow cat, the Snowbird 6, across part of the
Bering Strait off the coast of Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska. After waiting
two weeks for the right weather conditions. British explorers
Steve Brooks and Graham Stratford, who designed the vehicle, are on
their third attempt to be the first people to drive from the United
States to Russia across the treacherous Bering Strait. The team drove
as far as Little Diomede Island, half way through the 56 mile trip when
they were stopped by the Russians. The two adventurers flew back to
the village of Wales on Saturday to await permission from Russia to
continue. The Bering Strait, this time of year is a mass of shifting
ice floes, large pressures ridges, huge blocks of ice and temperatures
as low as -30.

April 19

Image of the Day

My
mom came into town last night for the day, bringing me antibiotics,
furniture, and supplies. Trying to get all the work done is a
never ending process. Met with my contractor Jerry this morning
to discuss the work I need him to do. You can only push the progress
along so much. My plumber is having back surgery for a pinched
disk this week, so that's on the sidelines also. I have to work
this weekend for a few hours, so there goes my sleeping in on Saturday
morning until noon.... I can't remember that last time I got to sleep
past 9 am on the weekends.The laptop version will have two, full-sized 15" diagonal
screens and a Microsoft Windows XP Operating System, giving Estari's
2-VU all the features of a laptop, paired with a reading experience
that is superior to that of a PC or a dedicated electronic reader. The
2-VU comes loaded with DocAble Organizer Professional, a digital document
management software package that will organize and manage information
in virtually any file format -- whether the information is located on
a single PC, network servers, the web or any removable media.

April 20

Image of the Day

Harriet Lane (1830-1903)Unique among First Ladies, Harriet Lane acted as hostess
for the only President who never married: James Buchanan, her favorite
uncle and her guardian after she was orphaned at the age of eleven.
And of all the ladies of the White House, few achieved such great success
in deeply troubled times as this polished young woman in her twenties. In the rich farming country
of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, herfamily
had prospered as merchants. Her uncle supervised her sound education
in private school, completed by two years at the Visitation Convent
in Georgetown. By this time, "Nunc" was Secretary of State, and he introduced
her to fashionable circles as he had promised, "in the best manner."
In 1854 she joined him in London, where he was minister to the Court
of St. James. Queen Victoria gave "dear Miss Lane" the rank of ambassador's
wife; admiring suitors gave her the fame of a beauty. In appearance "Hal" Lane
was of medium height, with masses of light hair almost golden. In manner
she enlivened social gatherings with a captivating mixture of spontaneity
and poise. After the sadness of the Pierce administration, the capital
eagerly welcomed its new "Democratic Queen" in 1857. Harriet Lane filled
the White House with gaiety and flowers, and guided its social life
with enthusiasm and discretion, winning national popularity. As sectional tensions increased,
she worked out seating arrangements for her weekly formal dinner parties
with special care, to give dignitaries their proper precedence and still
keep political foes apart. Her tact did not falter, but her task became
impossible--as did her uncle's. Seven states had seceded by the time
Buchanan retired from office and thankfully returned with his niece
to his spacious country home, Wheatland, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. From
her teenage years, the popular Miss Lane flirted happily withnumerous beaux,
calling them "pleasant but dreadfully troublesome."Buchanan
often warned her against "rushing precipitately intomatrimonial
connexions," and she waited until she was almost 36 tomarry. She chose,
with her uncle's approval, Henry Elliott Johnston,a
Baltimore banker. Within the next 18 years she faced one sorrowafter another:
the loss of her uncle, her two fine young sons, andher husband. Thereafter she decided
to live in Washington, among friends madeduring years of happiness. She had acquired a sizable
art collection,largely
of European works, which she bequeathed to the government. Accepted
after her death in 1903, it inspired an official of the Smithsonian
Institution to call her "First Lady of the National Collection of Fine
Arts." In addition, she had dedicated a generous sum to endow a home
for invalid children at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. It
became an outstanding pediatric facility, and its national reputation
is a fitting memorial to the young lady who presided at the White House
with such dignity and charm. The Harriet Lane Outpatient Clinics serve
thousands of children today.

April 21

Image of the Day

I
spend the day doing yard work around the house. Chris, Erin and
I hauled off 5 truck loads of garbage, wood pieces and miscellaneous
items. I bought a lawn mower to attempt to control the forest
growing in my yard. I managed to hew down the front and side yard
grass that was almost 3' tall in places.

April 22

Image of the Day

How
clueless are these people to be unaware of the war that is going on
in the region for the last year and a half. Today was another long day
of printing at work. I am slowly recovering from being ill, it
seems to take forever. I know I'm sick when I pass up the opportunity
to go to Home Depot 3 times in a row. Awaiting for my framing
contractor to show up and finish his work, which is delaying my electrical
work getting done. Two Japanese tourists, eager to visit Bethlehem's
Church ofthe
Nativity, were so engrossed in their guide book they did not notice
they had wandered into a war zone. Japanese tourists Yuji Nakano, left,
and Mina Takahashi sit in the destroyed town square of Bethlehem's Old
City. The two tourists, from Tokyo, say they arrived in Bethlehem on
part of their six month travels around the world hoping to visit the
Church of the Nativity and were unaware of the on-going standoff between
Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen taking shelter in the Church.
"We have been on the road for the last six months and we did not watch
television or read the newspapers," a bemused Yuji Nakano said.
Nakano said he and his girlfriend had been dropped off by a taxi at
a checkpoint near Bethlehem and had made their way along streets torn
up by armored vehicles. Apart from souvenir vendors, Palestinians normally
pay little attention to the visitors, but Wednesday, local women and
children simply gazed at the two in stark disbelief.

April 23

Image of the Day

Here's
a collector's t-shirt dream, a shirt that has been pulled from the market
after only one month. I spent almost 3 hours last night mowing the rest
of my lawn area. The grass took 2 passes to get everything even,
and the grass has grown to the edge of my mulch pile, and is encroaching
upon my garden. Now I need to find some time to weed. I cleaned
out the downstairs bedroom in hopes of the closet dividing wall being
built soon.

April 24

Image of the Day

Action
figures of President George W. Bush and Islamic militant Osama bin Laden
are part of a group of new action figure designs by Herobuilders. The
Connecticut toy maker is selling 'life-like action figures' based on
major figures tied to the Sept. 11 attacks, including Bush, bin Laden,
former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and British Prime Minister Tony
Blair.

April 25

Image of the Day

I
saw the movie Changing Lanes tonight. This was one of the better
written movies I have see in a long time and would have to rate it a
9.5/10. The storyline details were excellent, and used to progress
the storyline, with constant wrong clues to hint that something else
was going to happen that actually took place.A new foldable computer screen is
seen in this picture. South Korean display maker Samsung SDI has unveiled
a new foldable computer screen which it says will be ideal for Internet
users reading online books. The flat LCD screen folds like a book and
is much clearer than existing ones, Samsung SDI said.

April 26

Image of the Day

Erin
and I clean up the downstairs bedroom today. We had to pick up
the broken sheetrock, and insulation laying around from the closet wall
finally being installed. I hauled off another load of garbage
to the dumpsters after picking everything up. I saw the movie Scorpion
King tonight, an overall decent movie script, although the ending was
bad. I would give it a 8/10 but have to knock it down to 7.5 due
to the sudden romantic ending of the movie.

Al-Qaida
Leader: Dirty Bomb Possible

WASHINGTON
- Abu Zubaydah, the senior al-Qaida field commander in U.S. custody,
told his interrogators that the terrorist network knows how to build
a "dirty bomb," a terror weapon capable of dispersing radioactivity
over a wide area. Officials don't know whether to believe Abu Zubaydah,
who also recently claimed al-Qaida is targeting banks in the northeastern
United States. That report was the basis of an FBI alert last week. Such a weapon — also called
a radiological dispersal device — would use conventional explosives
to spread industrial or medical- grade radioactive material in a populated
area to cause widespread fear of exposure. They are not thought to be
difficult to build. Acquiring enough radioactive material to do harm
is regarded as the greatest challenge for terrorists. Much of the U.S. government's
thinking on the subject is theoretical, because no one has detonated
a radiological weapon. They do exist. In 1995, separatists from Russia's
embattled Chechnya region announced they had placed Cesium-137 in a
Moscow park; it was recovered by authorities. The Chechens, who are
believed now to have links to al-Qaida, threatened to covertly release
additional materials.

April 27

Image of the Day

I
spent the day relaxing today. Trying to recovering from my long
week, now if only I could train my body to let me sleep in occasionally.Joe Lamond, president and chief executive officer
of International Music Products Association, listens as hisfellow witness Elmo of Sesame Street testifies
during a House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education Appropriations
Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, in Washington. The two were testifying
in favor of school music education.

April 28

No Image of the Day

After
years of brainwashing children with hatred and violence I fail to she
how this community is shocked with the actions of these children.
They are merely acting upon what they have been taught and raised to
do.Schoolboy
Suicide Attacks Dismay PalestiniansSHEIKH
RUDWAN, Gaza Strip - School over for the day, the three boys told their
unsuspecting parents they were off to see friends. Hours later,
their bullet riddled bodies were lying in the dirt outside a Jewish
settlement in the Gaza Strip. Israeli troops had shot them before they
could reach their target. Suicide notes left by the 14-year-old
classmates showed they knew the venture would end in their deaths. The Israeli
army said the boys, named by relatives as Youssef Zaqout, Anwar Hamdouna
and Ismail Abu Nadi, had been carrying home-made pipe bombs, an ax and
knives. Futile or heroic, the boys' gesture of resistance to occupation
has deeply disturbed some community leaders who fear other youngsters
might copy their quest for "martyrdom." Even the Islamic militant group
Hamas, which has sent scores of members on suicide missions against
Israelis, described the actions of the schoolboys as a "national catastrophe."
Their deaths mirrored that of another 14-year-old, Haitham Abu Shuqa,
killed last week trying to stage a solo attack on a Jewish settlement
with two pipe bombs and a dagger. The pipe bombs are crude devices that
use gunpowder extracted from ordinary fireworks. Thousands of
Palestinians marched on Wednesday behind the coffins of the three schoolboys
to a cemetery in Gaza City's Sheikh Rudwan district, where they had
spent their brief lives. All three had left notes for their families,
explaining what they planned to do and asking forgiveness.
"Oh mother, please be happy with me. I ask you to pray to God to make
my martyrdom operation a success," wrote Zaqout. "I am giving my soul
for the sake of God and the homeland." The three boys all went to school
as usual on Tuesday and returned home briefly before embarking on their
fatal mission, telling their parents they were off to meet friends.
"Dad, Mum, forgive me. I am going to carry out a martyrdom operation
against a settlement," Abu Naid said. Zaqout's mother could hardly
choke back her tears. "What can I say? They killed my boy," she sobbed.
Asked if she understood his motives, she said: "Children are tormented
by what they see on television. Israel has left all Palestinians, including
children, with no choice but to die." The suicide
notes gave no inkling that any of the boys was affiliated to any militant
Palestinian group. No organization has claimed responsibility for their
action. As Gaza parents pondered the state of mind of their own
offspring, psychologist Fadel Abu Heen said many children were severely
traumatized by seeing and hearing of Palestinians, especially children
their own age, being killed by the Israelis. "It is despair, despair
and more despair. Children are unable to cope with the sad reality,"
he told Reuters, adding that child suicide attackers were motivated
more by an overwhelming sense of hopelessness than surging nationalism. Abu Heen said
televised scenes of burned and dismembered bodies, beamed into Gaza
homes repeatedly during the West Bank offensive launched by Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on March 29, had heightened the psychological
damage. He urged militant leaders and mosque preachers to wake
up to the risks and work to restrain suicidal adolescent impulses.
"We should not militarize the whole society. A schoolchild must study
and a grown-up fighter can fight," he said. In a statement that
blamed "Israeli massacres" for driving the boys to their deaths, Hamas
told teenagers to refrain from acts that might "leave many of them dead
by settlement fences." Ibrahim Jaroush, among dozens of children waiting
at a Gaza hospital for the arrival of the three boy's broken bodies,
said he wanted to emulate their quixotic deed. "I want to get
revenge for the boys killed by Sharon," the 11-year-old said.

April 29

No Image of the Day

My
contractor Jerry is working today, no I'm not dreaming his actually
working to finish the Unit B side. My timeline is to have the
entire unit finished and ready to be rented for June. The upstairs
hallway is completely framed in with space for the new doorway.
While the lower bedroom gained a closet wall and a pantry area into
the utility room. Here is an interesting story about the legal
battles of information jurisdiction over the internet.
DVD Copying Defendant Gets Supported in Calif. FightThe
Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) Thursday filed
an Amicus Curiae, or "friend of the court," brief with the California
Supreme Court on behalf of an out of state defendant in a DVD-copying
software publication case. The group is urging the court to overturn
a lower court ruling that the developer must stand trial in California
even though he doesn't live there. In its brief, the CCIA
said a California appeals court erred when it ruled the state has jurisdiction
over Matthew Pavlovich and ordered him to stand trial in California. Pavlovich,
an open-source developer who played a role in the creation of DVD-playing
software for Linux known as LiViD, is one ofa
number of defendants targeted in a lawsuit filed by the DVD Copy Control
Association (DVD CCA). Pavlovich, who was a student at Purdue University
in Indiana at the time of the filing of the complaint and now resides
in Texas, claimed to have no contacts in California and argued that
the state has no jurisdiction over him. Pavlovich owned and
operated a Web site where he posted a program called DeCSS. The appeals
court described DeCSS as a computer program designed to "defeat" the
DVD CCA's encryption- based copy protection system, known as the Content
Scramble System, or CSS, which is "employed to encrypt and protect the
copyrighted motion pictures contained on digital versatile discs, or
DVDs." The CCIA agreed with Pavlovich's contention that he had
no commercial contacts in California. It said the state did not have
jurisdiction over him because, it argued, the "mere posting" of information
on the Internet is "not sufficient" to create jurisdiction. The organization
went on to say the court of appeal "erroneously expanded the scope of
personal jurisdiction beyond the limits of the due process clause."
The CCIA disagreed with the court's finding that Pavlovich knew, or
should have known, "that by posting the misappropriated information
on the Internet, he was making the information available to a wide range
of Internet users and consumers throughout the Internet world, including
users and consumers in California." "If allowed
to stand, this decision would create universal jurisdiction in California
for any person or company that publishes a Web site on the Internet,"
CCIA president and CEO Ed Black said in a written statement.
"If followed in other states or in other countries, this would subject
every Web site owner to the jurisdiction of virtually every court in
the world," Black added. "Clearly, this shatters established concepts
of jurisdiction and must not be allowed to stand." In its
Aug. 7, 2001, ruling, the court of appeal agreed with the DVD CCA's
contention that Pavlovich knew that the motion picture industry was
centered in California, and the computer technology industry has a dominant
presence in the state. In addition, he admitted knowing that pirating
DVDs is illegal, and that DeCSS facilitates pirating of DVDs. Based on these findings,
the court ruled Pavlovich, "knew, or should have known, that the DVD
republishing and distribution activities he was illegally doing and
allowing to be done through the use of this Web site, while benefiting
him, were injuriously affecting the motion picture and computer industries
in California. The question is whether Pavlovich's lack of physical
and personal presence in California incapacitates California courts
from jurisdictionally reaching him through its long arm statutes. We
hold it does not."

April 30

Image of the Day

My
electrician is working to finish all the wiring this week. The
smoke detector wiring, dedicated circuits, and ceiling fans are getting
closer to be completed, along with new outside circuit plugs.

THE
REAL RODNEY KINGYesterday
marked 10 years since the start of the Rodney King riot in Los Angeles.
The outburst killed 50 people while causing more than $1 billion in
property damage - and in some respects the city has yet fully to recover.
There was a lot of double-domed analyzing and such yesterday, much of
it aimed at explaining away the rioters' actions - or calling for additional
"investment" in the neighborhoods where the violence began. Funny thing, there
wasn't much said about King - whose beating by four cops, after all,
was the underlying cause of the riot. At the moment, he's doing a bit
in a rehab center, following his latest arrest - a PCP- possession bust
last September. Prior to that - and after the riot, of course - he'd
been picked up for drunken driving, for assaulting his wife with a deadly
weapon (his car), for beating his wife and for running over two cops
who nabbed him for soliciting a transvestite hooker. This is a dangerous
guy. In 1991, the cops who encountered King - a parolee stopped while
driving drunk at speeds in excess of 100 mph - figured that out pretty
quick. They did what they had to do to subdue him. The rest is history.
Not that it's being taught anywhere.